False Plurals

Some words that end in “s” look like plurals but aren’t. “Physics” is my favorite example, and I don’t know of anyone who thinks “physics” is a plural. In fact I’ve seen the word “physic” used only in some old plays from my high school literature class. Another false plural is “maths.” I dislike “maths” because I grew up with “math” as a subject in grade school. I think “maths” moved here from Europe, but I”m not sure. All that said, here’s someone not recognizing a false plural:

Should be “before the politics starts.” Yes, I think it’s a tad funny that singular verbs in English can end in “s” and plural verbs don’t.

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First, I’ll point out that English tends to make common two-word phrases into single words. For example, “today” used to be “to-day” and “pickup truck” used to be “pick-up truck.” Looks like “online” is the next one, moving from “on line.” (I still say “on line.”) Now to let the comic pontificate:

What would you call those skates?

I haven’t mentioned these words for a while, the difference between “enormous” and “enormity.” “Enormous” means very big, “enormity” refers to something that is extremely bad. Here’s the passage in question:

The Devil’s Bible catches attention chiefly for its enormous size and the unusual depiction of the Devil. Owing to its vastness, it earned the title Codex Gigas, translating to ‘huge book’. Its enormity can be gauged by the fact that it demanded over 160 animal hides for its construction and mandates two individuals for lifting. Standing at 36 inches tall, 20 inches wide, and roughly nine inches thick, it tips the scales at 165 lbs.

https://www.ancientoriginsunleashed.com/p/the-captivating-tale-of-the-codex

The context could be taken either way! Yes, the paragraph is mostly about the enormous size of the book, but you could pretty easily take the description to describe horribleness, too.

Here’s a picture of it:

Maybe you’re not job hunting, but here’s how you should spell the summary of your curriculum vitae. Last word in the middle panel:

I don’t know how to type an “e” with an acute accent on a Mac, but on a PC (Windows or not), hold down the Alt key while you type 0233 on the numeric keypad. Then you won’t have to rely on context to tell your reader that you’re not typing the verb “resume.”

We grammar curmudgwons tend to like “whom” as the first word in a sentence because it’s often a direct object, even though it doesn’t feel like it. This sentence is different! First word in the second line:

Rearrange the words to put the main clause at the beginning: “You had no idea who was even running…” Yes, this “who” is the subject of the subordinate clause, so it’s correct!